FEATHER CRAFT BLOGS

The recent sale of R.L. Winston Rod Company marks a significant moment in fly fishing history. With energy executive and longtime angler Lance Robertson taking ownership, the legendary Montana rod maker enters a new chapter focused on preserving its heritage, craftsmanship, and independent spirit.

Walk up to a river with an experienced guide and you will notice something right away. They do not rush to cast. They stand still, watch the water, and take...

Celebrate opening day of trout season, a time honored tradition that brings anglers together each spring. Discover tips, traditions, and why it is the perfect time to take kids fishing and create lasting memories on the water.

The Winston Pure and Winston Pure 2 represent two generations of dry fly rod design rooted in feel, presentation, and restraint. While the original Pure became beloved for its deeply loading action and soulful casting character, the Pure 2 refines that experience with improved recovery speed, greater consistency across the lineup, and enhanced accuracy without sacrificing the unmistakable Winston feel. For anglers who value delicate presentations and the rhythm of casting as much as the fish itself, both rods offer exceptional experiences, just with slightly different personalities.

The new Orvis Ratio isn’t just another saltwater reel chasing higher drag numbers. It’s built around something far more important: control. After putting it to work in Belize on bonefish, permit, and juvenile tarpon, one thing stood out immediately. No reel we’ve tested delivers more stopping power per incremental turn of the drag knob. That precision changes how you fight fish, and ultimately, how many you land.

At first glance, the Sage ARROW makes a strong visual statement. The blank features a clean, modern flint color paired with olive and gunsmoke trim wraps that feel refined and...

Almost nobody's first vise is their last vise. But the first one still matters, because a vise that drops hooks teaches you the wrong lessons. Here are the five we recommend most, and how to match one to the flies you actually fish.

The hook is the one piece of tackle we choose almost without thinking, and it is the one everything depends on when a fish finally eats. A look at chemical sharpening: what it actually does, where it helps, and why sharp out of the box is not sharp forever.

Some tools solve a temporary problem. Others become permanent fixtures. The Renzetti Traveler belongs firmly in the second group, and the reasons are mechanical, not sentimental. We take a close look at what true rotary operation actually means, how the cam jaw system holds everything from #28 midges to 4/0 streamers, and why a vise this simple has outlasted decades of newer designs.

From wild-trout creeks to smallmouth rivers, explore our favorite fly-fishing destinations near St. Louis, with access tips and practical gear recommendations.

A dry fly does not float because it is light. It floats because surface tension holds it on the skin of the water, and everything in a bottle of floatant exists to keep it there. Silicone, cul de canard, and silica each defend that float by a different mechanism. Understand the mechanism and you stop guessing. Ignore it and you spend the hatch false casting a sinking fly.

For as long as most of us have been fishing, the knotless tapered mono leader has been the default connection between fly line and fly. It is cheap, it works, and it is everywhere. But the furled leader, an idea old enough to predate nylon, has been quietly winning anglers back over to the bench. More mass, softer landings, fewer break-offs, and a service life measured in seasons rather than outings. It sounds like a contradiction until you understand how it is built: a tapered rope of twisted fibers that hands the energy of the cast to the fly without losing any of it along the way.